Eagles Won’t Defend Turf

In a town brimming with historic buildings, the Philadelphia Eagles would love to make Veterans Stadium a forgotten relic of their past.

Their latest debacle--the cancellation Monday night of their exhibition opener against the Baltimore Ravens--could cost the Eagles $10 million in refunded revenue and is a reminder that their home might be the league’s worst.

“It is embarrassing to the franchise,” Eagle President Joe Banner said Tuesday. “There are players all around the NFL reading the stories today--maybe a free agent we want to sign next off-season, maybe a player on our team we want to re-sign this season .... It’s an embarrassment to the city.”

That’s nothing new for a city-owned stadium at the center of an artificial-turf war, a place some critics are calling a “field of seams.”

The Eagles, whose new stadium is scheduled to open in 2003, had lobbied for a grass field, but city officials deemed that too expensive and instead opted for NeXturf, which has a more grassy look and feel than typical artificial turf. The problem Monday was that there were potholes and ruts under the cut-outs covering the dirt infield of the Philadelphia Phillies, who played at the stadium against the Dodgers a day earlier. As a result, there were dangerous soft spots in the turf.

Fans here, some of whom smashed ticket windows in frustration, are none too forgiving. Nor are the players, many of whom have had problems with the playing surface in the past. But this was a new low.

“The old stuff was hard and crappy,” one Eagle player told the Philadelphia Daily News. “But at least it was crappy everywhere.”

The NFL, which made the decision to suspend the game, opted Tuesday to cancel it because neither team has the time to squeeze another game into its exhibition schedule. The Eagles must refund all of their revenue from tickets, luxury suites, advertising and television. Banner did not dispute an estimated cost between $5 million and $10 million.

Although he said he is worried similar problems could arise in the future, Banner said the club has not devised a contingency plan for the regular season.

Once the baseball season is over, the plan calls for the infield areas to be filled with concrete, which should eliminate the problem of potholes but will do nothing for the forgiveness of the ground.

An engineering firm inspected the field Tuesday and was supposed to provide recommendations to the city concerning the stadium, voted the league’s worst in a survey of players conducted in January by the NFL Players Assn.

“It is our expectation and our desire to have this stadium in a suitable playing condition for the remainder of this season,” said Joe Martz, the city’s managing director.

Banner would not discuss the possibility of the Eagles suing the city, the Phillies or NeXturf--all of whom share in the responsibility of getting the field in shape for a football game.

“Suing and tough talk is just not where we’re at or what we’re engaging in at this point,” he said.

It was not the first time a team has been forced to cancel an exhibition game because of turf problems. On Aug. 19, 1995, the NFL declared the playing surface at the Houston Astrodome unsafe for the Oilers’ game against San Diego.

But, when it comes to shoddy conditions, it’s tough to rival The Vet. While crews were working on the turf Monday, the Daily News found a nail protruding a quarter-inch from the turf on the sideline. And a press elevator was stuck for 40 minutes with 18 people inside.

Among the other disasters:

* Chicago receiver Wendell Davis blew out both knees while running a pass pattern on the turf.

* In 1998, a railing collapsed during the Army-Navy game, injuring 10 spectators.

* Last season, running back Duce Staley, on crutches recovering from a foot injury, slipped in a puddle that had formed on the floor because of a leak in the executive offices.

That history, coupled with Monday’s fiasco, has left team officials fretting about the future.

“I’m worried,” Banner said. “There’s enough of a history here that it would be crazy to say I’m not worried.”

*

, Eagle president, on the possibility of suing the city of Philadelphia over problems at Veterans Stadium.